Beyond Good and Evil 2 was officially announced at E3 2017. Prior to that, reports of work on the game had existed in some form for a decade or so prior. However, by 2016, work on the game had been put on hiatus for Rayman Legends 2 development, before being picked up again. Things were looking good for a while, but then series creator and lead, Michel Ancel, left the games industry to spend time at a wildlife sanctuary. Yeah, that sounds about right. As such, it’s been easy to assume that the game would be allowed to fade into the ether.
However, that apparently isn’t the case. In Ubisoft’s first-quarter financial report released today, Beyond Good and Evil 2 gets a special mention. In a section specifying that the company would be expanding their premium offerings, the bottom-most entry reads: “Revival of fan-favorite franchise with Beyond Good and Evil 2.” And, uh, that’s it. That’s all it says. No release window, no indication on how development is progressing or if it’s even being actively worked on. All we know is that Ubisoft is still planning on releasing the game at some point and that it’s important enough to mention in a financial report alongside Far Cry 6, even if it’s only mentioned after the next Mario + Rabbids game. Not exactly a priority, I guess.
Rejoice, for Beyond Good and Evil 2 still exists
It feels like a lifetime ago, but the original Beyond Good & Evil launched in November of 2003, or nearly 18 years ago. It received a strong critical and fan response, but didn’t sell all that well, hence why it took a decade and a half for the sequel to even get an official announcement. As for said sequel, we’ll have to keep waiting until Ubisoft graces us with another sliver of information. Without Ancel, though, it’s got an even tougher uphill battle from here. Here’s to hoping it brought the right climbing tools.
